Evaluation of healthcare professionals’ experiences of taking telephone calls from parents of children with congenital heart disease. A risky business

Background: Parents of children with congenital heart disease should have ongoing access to a 24-hour telephone advice service (NHS England 2016).
Aim: To explore staff experiences of telephone communication with parents
Method: All nursing and support staff in a single specialist children’s cardiac surgical centre were invited to participate in an online survey (July-November 2019).
Results: Participants (n=39) were predominantly nurses (n=32, 82%) with 64.1% (n=25) working in the speciality >10 years. 78.4% (n=29) indicated they took up to five telephone calls per shift, regarding: concern about child's cardiac condition or deterioration (n=37/39); medication (n=33/39); wound care (n=22/39); general illness (n=16/39). Positive experiences included: signposting and preventing further deterioration; supporting families to get expert advice quickly; providing reassurance. Challenging experiences included: offering advice without being able to see the child, dealing with telephone calls alongside busy workload; parents running out of medications and telephoning out of hours.
Conclusion: Taking telephone calls can be time consuming alongside the daily clinical workload and has potential high risk. Challenges arise when staff are asked for advice but are unable to see the child, or parents run out of medication out of hours. A standardised approach to assessment, intervention and documentation is needed.